Tue Nov 07 00:06:13 UTC 2017
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Computer |
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Shower |
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Walk to work |
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Lunch |
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Lunch |
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Revisit ID Mapping UI |
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PLANNING |
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CA-3359 |
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Call USPS |
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Meet with David/Noon |
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CA-3359 |
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CA-3359 |
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End of day review |
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Walk to library |
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Reading |
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Reading |
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Reading |
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Walk to Livio's |
Hanging at home |
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Voting |
Hanging at home |
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Hanging out |
Waking to Livio's |
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Hanging out |
Voting |
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Walk home |
Hanging out |
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Gaming: Overwatch |
Hanging out |
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Gaming: Overwatch |
Walking home |
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Gaming: Overwatch |
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Gaming: Overwatch |
SLEEP |
Tue Nov 07 01:25:11 UTC 2017
Basic Economics.
Page 437: Foreigners holding US debt is bad, foreigners running banks in
various developing countries was fine earlier.
Page 440: "It is one thing to have a national debt as large as the Gross
Domestic Product, or larger, at the end of a major war, for the rturn of peace
means drastic reductions in military spending[...]" I think drastic reductions
in military spending is definitely still the answer here.
Page 443: "The only way to determine whether the benefits [of the ferry ride]
are really worth the cost of $108 per round trip is to charge $108 per round
trip." This is the author talking about subsidized ferry rides around the San
Francisco area.
This is a false statement. If all these people getting ferry rides are now not
driving, then we have lessened the strain of rush hour on the roads in these
areas. This could potentially be helping traffic overall and reducing commute
times via pricing incentives. This could very well be a great allocation of the
ferry resource, and alternative uses that are not subsidized may well lead to
more cogested traffic and thus less productive work being done overall.
Though, I don't know how likely that is to be the case, I'd have to find my
sources.
Page 444: "[...]subsidizing everyone who uses those goods and services in order
to help a fraction of the population [the poor] seems less efficient than
directly helping "the poor" with money or vouchers and letting the others pay
their own way." I mostly agree. However, bureacracy has a tendency to screw
over the poor. It's also just asking for corruption and an injection of
incompetence. Having witnessed the process of getting diability pricing on
various things... it's a good idea on paper, but can be equally as messy as
subsidizing it for everyone.
It's one of the reasons I am pro-basic-income.
Page 447: "In the United States, it has been estimated that the cost of keeping
a career criminal behind bars is at least $10,000 a year less than the cost of
having him at large." Sounds like the cost of keeping a prisoner a criminal is
the highest cost of them all. Recidivism is a thing we should work to avoid.
The US having the largest prison population in the world is not something to
celebrate.
Page 448: The author is criticizing "smart growth" land-use restrictions. Seems
strange, considering the author's earlier criticism of government insurance for
homes that are at high risk for weather-based damage. "Smart growth"
restrictions often exist to help prevent such damage, if I understand correctly
(though I need to find my sources there). One of the reasons the recent
hurricane hit Texas so hard is the lack of regulations in buildings vastly
reducing flood runoff. Again, find my sources.
Page 454: Beginning chapter 20, "Special Problems in the National Economy".
Page 458: Author blaming government intervention on high unemployment rate of
the Great Depression. Even if the author is correct that the government is
better in not intervening, the problem is that people think that a political
solution is viable, and if the government doesn't give one, they may well
revolt. There needs to be a plan and there needs to be some means of having the
people trust that plan.
The author goes on to compare the Great Depression to "do-nothing" recession
earlier. Considering that these would be pre-industrial revolution, it seems
quite likely that this is an apples-to-oranges comparison. It's a lying with
statistics sort of thing that the author warned against earlier in the book.
The author than gives two more examples, admittedly more modern, and perhaps
this is something I should think about. He mentions the 1921 ecomonic downturn
preceding the 1929 stock-market crash. Also, the stock-market crash of 1987.
Though, I've read some economist writing on that second example, and still feel
that it's not a fair example. Perhaps not all stock-market crashes are created
equal, and there are ones where it makes sense to do nothing, and ones where
something must be done.
Similar, in essence, to how sometimes tax cuts increase tax revenue, and
sometimes tax increases increase revenue. Applying either solution at the wrong
time could prove disasterous.
Page 460: The author talks about how what works and what doesn't is
trial-and-error, and that the error has a huge human element that is quite
costly. I agree. There's this danger imposed by finding the right system that
best helps the people within find success. But we have to do the exploration.
And sometimes we have to repeat past mistakes, because we need that data. How
to do this whilst reducing the suffering it will cause is a serious problem
we need to solve.
Page 463: The author talks about social security. The fact that all that money
is immediately used for government spending elsewhere, and is not proper
invested, does in fact irk me. Hopefully I get some social security money back,
but if not... at least I'm doing my own savings.
Page 466: The author quotes disability statistics, acting as though a lot of
people are mooching off the system now than before. Perhaps we're better at
assessing disabilities and actually a lot of people need disability assistance?
Page 468: "Whatever the merits or demerits of particular government economic
policies, the market alternative is very new as history is measured, and the
combination of democracy and a free market still newer and rarer." I agree. No
further comment here.
Page 473: I have now finished part 5, "The National Economy". Next is part 6,
"The International Economy". I'm seriously enjoying this book and agreeing with
a lot of what the author has to say. But oftentimes he mentions something I'm
more intimately familiar with and then I think that maybe the book is
charasmatic and good at explaining its point of view, but not really being fair
to contrary points of view.
Perhaps I should make sure to track more of the stuff I find myself agreeing
with, to check my sources and expand my economics understanding when I start
reading more content on it later.
We'll see.
Tue Nov 07 02:59:14 UTC 2017
Watching a video critique of Universal Basic Income: